Apple Ditched Curved Glass iPhone Because it Was Too Expensive

The information about Apple's early iPhone prototypes and concepts just keeps coming. According to a court filing, Apple considered building a phone with shaped glass, but it never happened because it would have cost too much cash money. Look at those images above. Trippy concept, right?

Network World discovered the deposition of former Apple designer Douglas Satzger, in which he details the curvy wonder. Satzger worked as a top level industrial designer at Apple from 1996 to 2008, and he is now the VP of Industrial Design at Intel. The idea was to put rounded glass on the top and bottom of the iPhone instead of the flat panels we have today. But as with the aluminium iPhone prototypes we learned about, the design and manufacture of the shaped-glass phone was deemed too complicated and expensive to be feasible:

The technology in shaping the glass, the cost relative to shaping the glass at the time, and some of the design features of this specific shape were not liked.

Wow. Think of how different the world would be if there were millions upon millions of people wandering around with curved phones instead of what we've got today. Okay, not at all. But still! Oooo, wow, neat curvy phone! [Network World via 9to5Mac]